From Jimmie Athletics

University of Jamestown head golf coach Zach Hale has been awarded the Tyler James WGCA Convention Scholarship.

As a member of the Women’s Golf Coaches Association, women’s golf coaches have the opportunity to attend the WGCA Coaches Convention every December.  It is a great professional development program for coaches, giving them the chance to network and hear from guest speakers of different areas (psychologists, teaching professionals, and NFL coaches for example).

Tyler James was the head golf coach at University of the Southwest in Hobbs, New Mexico (members of the NAIA and Red River Athletic Conference). On March 15, 2022, Coach James and his team were on their way back to campus after the first day of a tournament in Midland, Texas, when their van was struck by an oncoming vehicle, tragically killing Coach Tyler and six of the team’s eight players. The tragedy rocked the golfing community to its core.

A release from the WGCA stated, “One of Tyler’s goals was to attend the WGCA Member Convention; however, his program like so many others, at the Division II, III, NAIA, and NJCAA levels simply did not have the budget. The WGCA will help address this in a small way by offering seven scholarships to women’s collegiate golf coaches to attend this year’s convention.”

“I am incredibly honored and extremely grateful to be one of seven recipients of the Tyler James WGCA Convention Scholarship to attend this years WGCA Convention,” Hale said.  “It is something I have wanted to do the past two years, but have not been able to due to funding and now it has become reality.  I hope to make Coach James proud and consume as much information as I can to not only develop as a coach, but to also help our women’s golf team and take our program to the next level.”

This year’s WGCA Convention will be December 4-7 at the Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas, NV.